Cuttyhunk

In the spring of 1602, Captain Bartholomew Gosnold sets sail from England aboard the small bark Concord, bound for the unfamiliar shores of North America. His company includes sailors, would-be settlers, and observers who record the hazards of the voyage: contrary winds, a difficult passage, and the uncertainty of approaching an unknown coast.

Their arrival brings encounters with Indigenous people, abundant cod off the coast, and a chain of inviting islands. One island in particular astonishes the explorers with its clear springs, freshwater lake, thick vines, wild berries, cedar and beech trees, and seemingly untouched landscape. Through closely followed accounts attributed to the expedition’s eyewitness chroniclers, this narrative recreates an important early English venture in New England exploration and settlement. It offers listeners a vivid blend of maritime adventure, natural history, and colonial-era observation, while capturing the wonder and tensions of first contact with a new world.